The new revelation comes from Stephen Watt, Gonzalez's best friend and convicted accomplice. Watt was convicted of creating the sniffer program that Gonzalez used to hack into the corporate systems.

The Secret Service would not comment on the pay or identity of informants.

Former federal prosecutor Mark Rasch adds: "It's a significant amount of money to pay an informant but it's not an outrageous amount to pay if the guy was working full time and delivering good results. It's probably the only thing he was doing -- other than hacking into TJX and making millions of dollars."

For pleading guilty to identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud and conspiracy, Gonzalez is expected to receive over 20 years in prison when he is sentenced later this week.

If true, the $75,000-a-year payout would be a new high for computer crime informants with most other high profile informants saying they got paid $200-350 per week.

i knew he worked with an organization before hand, you just dont turn up with that many CC numbers with out some kind of training and supplies before hand. the SS only pay 75,000 a year, you make more cleaning shit out of some ones Toilet.

Sorry DDP...I had no idea the SS was considered a political organization...I figured they were fair game just like RIAA, MPAA, Chinese government, etc...

"if he is getting arrested and serving time for what the SS told him to do doesn't make any sense."
-It makes perfect sense if you have ever heard of "False Flag". That said, let's try to avoid conspiracy theories, unless we have hard facts to support them.